Zuiderdam

Carole Schuster

Age: 40's

Occupation:Retired

Number of Cruises: 15

Cruise Line: Holland America

Ship: Zuiderdam

Sailing Date: December 20th, 2003

Itinerary: Eastern Caribbean

We are a family of repeat
cruisers on various lines, and decided to make the Zuiderdam our holiday family
trip. After all I had read about this ship, mostly negative but more recently
positive comments, we decided to give it a try. Well, we were more than 100%
satisfied!

Holland America, in our opinion, is a great value. The food seems to get better
on every cruise-both in the Vista Dining room and in the Lido. And for a special
treat the Odyssey Restaurant ($20 surcharge per person) can't be beat-the best
steaks we have had in a long time, cooked and served to perfection. The service
everywhere was attentive and we tipped generously to those that took such good
care of us. I only wish that the other passengers took as good a care of the
staff as we did. (I do think that HAL needs to revise their tipping policy)

The things we appreciated on this ship versus other Holland America ships we
have recently sailed (Veendam, Maasdam and Volendam) are absolutely NO lines
anywhere, the variety of lounges and evening options, larger spa and exercise
area, and the lovely balconies. The cabins are spacious and well designed and
the balconies large enough for two chairs, but we did find the lack of
self-service laundry to be disappointing.

Entertainment was better than normal, perhaps because it was a holiday sailing.
There was some type of big show each evening, and many other evening show
options including a fun karaoke knock-off on American Idol called "Zuiderdam
Idol". Our fellow passengers were very talented and provided us all with great
entertainment during the week of competition.

We can't wait to try the Oosterdam or the new Westerdam coming out in 2004. HAL
just keeps getting better & better!